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Teaching > Ignorance and Superstition It used to be thought that people who believed in magic were simply being irrational. However, it now appears that they are actually the victims of cognitive illusions that are produced by the normal functioning of our reasoning faculties. During the course we will look at some of these illusions and try to understand how they affect us and our picture of what it means to be rational. |
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| Texts | The course is based upon a number of chapters from selected books. The exact list is displayed on the door of my office. Copies of the texts are available from the philosophy library (Ask the staff for the green "Talmont" folder). |
| Assessment | The students are offered the option of either writing a paper of roughly 6 pages in length or of taking a written test at the end of the semester. Since English is not their first language I am willing to assist them by commenting upon draft versions of their papers. I strongly suggest that they make use of this resource. |